1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Kraków
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Ogród społeczny 'poziomkowa polana'
Short description of the intervention
The NBS is a socio-ecological initiative to create an urban garden that would serve as an outdoor space for creative endeavours in the Cracow's district Podgórze. The project was implemented by an association of cultural institutions, NGOs, artists' groups, landscape architects, social activists, cultural animators and artisans, who also activated a group of volunteers from among the residents. The initiative involves several activities including greenery planting, horticulture/vegetable garden, ecological education and art workshops. Space is rented from the municipality as an act of protection of naturalistic landscape from over investment and new residential buildings in the area. It is surrounded by modern developments [1,3,4].
The social garden was established in 2013 and it is still functioning with its original purpose [3].
Address

ul. Przedwiośnie 2
Kraków
Poland

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Residential
Public Greenspace Area
Website of the intervention
https://www.facebook.com/pg/poziomkowapolana/about/?ref=page_internal
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
unknown
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2013
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
1. Creation of a community-run garden which protects the neighbourhood from further urban development;
2. Provision of space for social integration through ecological and cultural initiatives [1,4];
3. Support of the processes of social integration and civil society enhancement [1,6].

Quantitative targets
1 garden with 1 shed for gardening tools [2,3]
Monitoring indicators defined
unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Regulation of built environment
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
Inclusive governance
Effective management
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Creation of opportunities for recreation
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Promotion of cultural diversity
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Sustainable consumption
Sustainable production
Implementation activities
Implementation activities include:
- open-air picnics
- community gardening
- cleaning the site
- removing debris and weeds
- creative workshops (e.g. creation of vertical gardens, organic art, building green furniture etc.)
- protection from drastic environment changes (e.g. draughts in winter without snow)
- construction of eco-urban furniture: swings, seats, feeders, trash bin, composter
- community planting of flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs – horticulture
- building bird booths [3,5].
Type of NBS project
Maintenance and management of urban nature
Protection of natural ecosystems
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Community gardens and allotments
Community gardens
Please specify the number of plots or allotment gardens
Unknown
Vegetation Type
Grass
Shrubs
Trees
Garden beds
Please specify how many trees were planted
Unknown
Please specify other amenities offered by the NBS
vegetable garden, a platform for workshops
Amenities offered by the NBS
Playgrounds
Educational and research amenities (nature protection centre, monitoring stations)
Other
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Inspiration for culture, art and design
Recreation
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Non-government organisation/Civil Society
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Led by non-government actors
Non-government actors
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) / Civil society / Churches
Citizens or community groups
Social enterprise
Coalition with multiple of the above
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The project was implemented by an association of cultural institutions, NGOs, artists' groups, landscape architects, social activists, cultural animators and artisans, who also activated a group of volunteers from among the residents [1,3]. The initiative is coordinated by Żywa Pracownia (eng. The Live Workshop) project [4].
Key actors - initiating organization
Non-government organisation/civil society
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Other
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Non-government organisation/civil society
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Other
Please specify other land owner
The space has been rented from the municipality [2].
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Co-management/Joint management
Please specify other landowner
The space has been rented from the municipality [2].
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
The local actors started the project on their own initiative.
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Please specify
The cooperation of all the stakeholders that took part in the creation of the social garden could be considered here - as they cooperated within the program 'Autumn at the Wild Strawberry Glade' ('Jesień na Poziomkowej Polanie').(5)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Project co-financed by the Citizen Initiatives Fund - a funding scheme of the Ministry of Family, Work and Social Policy.(5)(6)
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
Public national budget
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Provision of land
Provision of labour
Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Business models
Local stewardship model
Vacant space model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Social
Cultural innovation
Please specify social innovation
It is the first initiative of this type in the district, which combines ecologic, cultural and educational activities.(1)(2)
Novelty level of the innovation
The innovation is completely new without connections to previous initiative(s)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
This is the first social garden in the district.(2)
Replicability/Transferability
The innovation is not referred to as being transferred to new initiative(s)
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Climate change
Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters
Water management and blue areas
Reduced risk of damages by drought
Green space and habitat
Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
Increased green space area
Description of environmental benefits
Owing to the project, the citizens protected the garden's willows from severe draughts [4]. The project coordinators planted flowers and plants (species unspecified) and established a vegetable garden. Space is rented from the municipality which protects the naturalistic landscape from over-investment and new residential buildings in the area. It is surrounded by modern buildings, but still untouched in its natural form [1,3,4].
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved access to urban green space
Increased opportunities for social interaction
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
Health and wellbeing
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Promotion of cultural diversity
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Increased appreciation for natural spaces
Education
Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Description of social and cultural benefits
The NBS was implemented by an association of cultural institutions, NGOs, artists' groups, landscape architects, social activists, cultural animators and artisans. They also activated a group of volunteers from among the residents. Projects regularily implemented in the garden include:
- open-air picnics for the increased awareness of the NBS' benefits
- community gardening for interaction and sustainable urban food growth
- cleaning the site for commmunity interaction and increase in appreciation of the area
- removing debris and weeds - see above
- creative workshops (e.g. creation of vertical gardens, organic art, building green furniture etc.) - for the promotion of zero waste and sustainable lifestyle
- construction of eco-urban furniture: swings, seats, feeders, trash bin, composter - see above
- community planting of flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs – horticulture - for the creation of sustainable consumption models
- building bird booths - the community's responsibility for native species [3,5].
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Protecting the area from further urban development; Social integration; The creation of civil society [6]
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Voluntary work opportunities
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Żywa pracownia (The Live Workshop) was closed and halted its activities fot the period of the lockdown between March and June 2020. There is no information regarding the functioning of the garden and its maintenance in spring.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Not applicable
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Ref.1 Website of intervention
Ref.2 (online article)
Ref.3 (online article)
Ref.4 (founding organization website)
Ref.5 (online article)
Ref.6 (Ministry website)
List of references
1. Fanpage of the intervention, https://www.facebook.com/pg/poziomkowapolana/about/?ref=page_internal (Accessed: 01 September 2020).
2. Drath, J., (2015) 'New social garden is emerging in Krzemionki' ('Na Krzemionkach powstaje społeczny ogród'), lovekrakow.pl,
http://lovekrakow.pl/aktualnosci/na-krzemionkach-powstaje-spoleczny-ogrod_9860.html (Accessed: 01 September 2020).
3. Online article, 'Social garden wild straberry glade' ('Ogród społeczny Poziomkowa Polana.'), ekogazeta.eu, http://www.ekogazeta.eu/ekoinfo/item/1146-ogrod-spoleczny-poziomkowa-polana.html (Accessed: 01 September 2020).
4. Website of the founding organization, 'Żywa Pracownia', http://zywapracownia.pl/category/ogrody-spoleczne/poziomkowa-polana/ (Accessed: 01 September 2020).
5. Online article, 'Urban gardening on the level' ('Miejskie ogrodnictwo na POZIOMIE'), www.platformakultury.pl, http://www.platformakultury.pl/artykuly/133046-miejskie-ogrodnictwo-na-poziomie.html (Accessed: 23 July 2017) (Website under construction in August 2020).
6. The Ministry of Family, Work and Social Policy website, 'Citizens Initiative Fund' ('Fundusz Inicjatyw Obywatelskich'), http://www.mpips.gov.pl/spoleczenstwo-obywatelskie/fundusz-inicjatyw-obywatelskich/ (Accessed: 23 July 2017) (In August 2020, the link leads to the current version of the same website).
Interview comments
I sent an email to obtain additional information on section 6.
Comments and notes
Additional insights
The project received subsidies from the state-level Citizens Initiative Fund, which is the first comprehensive formula for supporting non-governmental organizations in Poland [6]. (Updated in 2017)
Public Images
Social Garden in Kraków
Social Garden in Kraków
Source: https://www.facebook.com/poziomkowapolana/photos/a.1543623689200637/1791531261076544
Social Garden in Kraków
Social Garden in Kraków
Source: https://www.facebook.com/poziomkowapolana/photos/a.1543623689200637/1759004874329183
Social Garden in Kraków
Social Garden in Kraków
Source: https://www.facebook.com/poziomkowapolana/
Social Garden in Kraków
Social Garden in Kraków
Source: https://zywapracownia.pl/category/ogrody-spoleczne/poziomkowa-polana/